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Object-Oriented PHP Basics

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Accessing Properties

3:14 with Alena Holligan

Once we create an object, we can access its properties. Getting or setting an object's properties can be done in a number of ways. In this video, we’ll be looking at the most direct way.

Object-Operators

Object-Operators allow us to access the properties and methods of a class. We reference the object name, the object-operator, and finally the property name. The object-operator consists of the characters dash and greater than, which together make a single arrow (->).

$recipe->source = "Grandma Holligan";

Note that the property name does not start with the $ sign; only the object name starts with a $, because this entire reference is one variable.

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    Once we create an object, we can access its properties. 0:00
    We reference the object name, followed by the characters dash and 0:05
    greater than, which together make a single arrow. 0:11
    And finally, the property name. 0:14
    Note that the property name does not start with the dollar sign. 0:18
    Only the object name starts with the dollar sign, 0:22
    because this entire reference is one variable. 0:26
    Because multiple instances or 0:29
    objects of a class can exist if the individual object is not referenced, 0:31
    the script would be unable to determine which object to read from. 0:37
    We can then interact with this property just like we would any other variable. 0:42
    To display this property, we can type echo before it. 0:47
    To set the property, we use the object. 0:52
    The single arrow, the property name, the equal sign, and then our value. 0:57
    Let's print this property again. 1:09
    Now let's check this out in our console. 1:17
    We now see Alena Holligan, Grandma Holligan. 1:24
    The power of OOP becomes apparent 1:28
    when using multiple instances of the same class. 1:31
    More than one object can be built from the same class at the same time, 1:35
    each one independent of the others. 1:40
    Let's create a second object. 1:44
    We'll name this recipe2. 1:47
    We can then set the source for recipe2. 1:55
    Now let's print the source for both recipe1 and recipe2. 2:06
    Now let's run the script in the console. 2:21
    $recipe1->source was first initialized with the default value Alena Holligan. 2:25
    We then changed that value to Grandma Holligan. 2:31
    Then we created a second recipe and set its source to Betty Crocker. 2:35
    This had no effect on recipe1, because recipe1 and recipe2 are separate entities. 2:40
    This makes for 2:48
    easy separation of different pieces of code into small related bundles. 2:48
    Great job. 2:54
    We set up our recipe class to contain all the properties of a recipe object, and 2:55
    we demonstrated how we can create individual objects that exist 3:00
    independently of other objects and can have their own property values. 3:04
    Next, we want to set up the actions our object will perform. 3:10

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